DiFi delivers one-two punch on Dems

In a one-two punch at fellow Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein suggested on Monday that Barack Obama had made the wrong pick for the CIA and on Tuesday that Democratic leaders are taking the wrong approach with Roland Burris.

The bucking-the-party-line messages may help the California senator establish herself as an independent layer in the 111th Congress, but they don’t seem to be sitting well with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

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In an interview with Politico Tuesday afternoon, Reid said Feinstein was right that Obama should have consulted senators before picking Leon Panetta to lead the CIA. But, he added, “I think you need better reasons for coming out against somebody than somebody didn’t call you.”

On Burris, Reid said Feinstein was simply wrong.

Talking to reporters earlier on Tuesday, Feinstein had said that failing to seat Burris would call into question the validity of “gubernatorial appointments all over the country.”

While Feinstein has broken with her party in the past, her double shot this week seems to have caught Democratic leaders off guard as they tried to show a sense of unity at the opening of the 111th Congress.

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Feinstein, who turns 76 in June, is rumored as a candidate for California governor in 2010, and Democrats say privately that she may be breaking with her party to better position herself for that race. A spokesman did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.

Feinstein votes overwhelmingly with her party, but she has broken with her Democratic colleagues on some controversial issues. In 2007, she infuriated liberals back home by helping the GOP advance the nomination of Leslie Southwick for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. And she drew wrath again from the left when, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, she joined Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in voting to confirm Michael Mukasey as attorney general despite his equivocations on whether waterboarding is torture.

With Obama in the White House and Democrats holding a big majority in the House, Republicans may need help from centrists such as Feinstein to stop Democratic legislation from moving through the Senate. Republicans say Feinstein is at the top of their list of potential Democratic defectors.

“She’ll take political heat to find common ground,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “I think she’ll be one of the key players in this Congress, quite frankly.”